Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Legion on March 13, 2018, 09:27:05 PM
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Play-offs.
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Classic Villa...
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Automatic promotion gone. Absolutely diabolical and completely undid any good from Saturday. Jedinak is pointless in a match you should be looking to control.
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Be lucky to stay in the play offs knowing villa. The gap just couldn’t go to 7 points. Concentrate on getting Kodjia up to speed so we can get Hogan out the squad and actually have a goal scoring option on the bench.
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bad idea to play the same midfield two again, so soon after Saturday but the team from front to back was flat tonight
QPR from what I saw were excellent, cracking second goal
Need Hutton back, Taylor is very average
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Welcome back Aston Villa, I've missed you!
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Don't keep the end of May free. We won't turn up to at least one of the semi finals, and that's if we manage to secure them.
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Shambles. After everything Bruce said post match Saturday he allows this shit to happen.
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Milan Kundera’s claret & blue army.
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Well that came out of fucking nowhere. bottled it big time tonight.
We put in a fair amount of half decent crosses in the first 15 minutes but QPR dealt with them all convincingly and we seemed to have no other game plan after that, which for a team that have been scoring for fun recently is hugeley disappointing.
They bossed the midfield and won every 2nd ball, it was as if we are the mid-table team with nothing to play for and they are the team desperate for the points.
We have no room for error now, pretty much only 9 wins out of 9 will give us a chance but realistically this is the night we blew automatic promotion.
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Play off''s it is then and I really don't fancy our chances in the play off''s. ...Aston villa...what's new.
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Have completely miss tonight’s game, just in. What’s happened???
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Will everyone still fear us in the playoffs?
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No idea what to say to that.
I thought pre match it would be a flat atmosphere and we'd struggle to win but that result and performance was shocking.
Incredibly disappointing given the experience in the dressing room, they let us down tonight and made Saturday pretty much worthless in terms of the season.
No chance for second now, prepare to try to win the lottery.
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Well that was very Aston Villa. Horrible display to compound a very horrible night. As much as everything went right at the weekend tonight was the exact opposite of that. Maybe the players thought we’d done it all having smashed Wolves and the rest of the season was going to be a piece of piss. Well it’s not and they better get their shit together vs Bolton at the weekend.
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Have completely miss tonight’s game, just in. What’s happened???
Routine away win following glimmer of hope.
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Yeah, it's pretty weird where this performance came from. Bang in form, mean defence and scoring loads of goals. 0-3 at home to average opponents is just odd to read, which I suppose is a positive. Fair play to QPR though, great result for them.
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Painful, but fuck it, it's done. Lets fucking destroy the playoffs. Up the Villa!
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Pulis does for Villa in the play-offs. You heard it here first.
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Fucking hell Villa!
Utter wank at home!
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We were never going to go undefeated through to May so (being positive) we’ve got the shocker out of the way and now really do need to string 4-5 wins on the bounce.
I fancy us in the playoffs.
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Hopefully QPR can get a result against Fulham on Saturday now.
I still think second is possible, but we can’t afford any more nights like this in the next few months. Arghhhh, Villa.
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We never win the winnable ones. Consistently inconsistent, that's us.
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I've been steeled for playoffs ever since we had an upturn in form. But I'm also convinced we'll bomb out at the first hurdle.
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Bruce doesn't learn. He played the same team for a couple of games close together earlier in the season and we lost that second game. He needed to freshen it up a little.
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Just need to win the last nine then. You never know, tonight could be the massive kick up the arse that drives us on to do it.
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Was out all night, just seen the score...WTF. Play offs it seems to be. As unlikable as Warnock can be, they keep getting results.
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Neither us, Cardiff or Fulham was going to win every game but I just didn't expect us to fall at the very first hurdle.
Still I should've known, I've been supporting us long enough.
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Fucking garbage, another wake up call for us, you can't rest on your laurels you have to be up and at them every single bastard game and grab it by the scruff of the neck. Terrible result and performance but we can still make it.
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The mistake was Jedinak, completely wrong player for this game.
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Have completely miss tonight’s game, just in. What’s happened???
Routine away win following glimmer of hope.
Fuck, I expected that Holloway would have them geeed up , and he is very good at that , but this....didn’t see this , was it as bad as the score line?
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We have do what Wolves just did and come back with a win after a battering. No excuses.
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Pulis does for Villa in the play-offs. You heard it here first.
Middlesbrough would suit us, especially over two legs in a semi. A one off game, in a final, at Wembley....hmm. Any team would be a lottery.
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Gutted. But there will be more twists and turns before the end of the season.
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At no point tonight did we look like getting anything better than a point. Even before they scored we looked devoid of inspiration other than bang it wide and loop some crosses in which they mopped up all night long.
The entire midfield dropped to 4 or 5 out of 10 performances which we just can't afford.
Thought Jedinak was leaden, and Hourihane anonymous whilst Grealish struggled to find his rhythm tonight.
Hogan for Grabban was a waste of a substitution - did he even touch the ball?
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This was some very shit football. Same old Villa inconsistency which seems to stick to us like a hex.
Still, Bruce does have a habit of hitting streaks just when he needs to, which would be useful in the play-offs.
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This was some very shit football. Same old Villa inconsistency which seems to stick to us like a hex.
Still, Bruce does have a habit of hitting streaks just when he needs to, which would be useful in the play-offs.
That would be fine if the other teams around us weren’t finding form and hitting streaks too. Fulham despite their incredible form are a point back of us. They will be very tough indeed.
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Wolves bounce back...Cardiff come back. ..and us...well we're fuckin Aston villa.
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‘We’ve had a horrible one. I’ve said it before this is how the championship is. There was a definite hangover from sat’day. Maybes I should’ve changed it and freshened it up a bit but I wanted to give the lads another go. We’ve had a wake up call battt we’ll be ready to go again at the weekend.’
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Gotta keep the faith.
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simply the best performance of the season followed by the worst which is hard to explain
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‘We’ve had a horrible one. I’ve said it before this is how the championship is. There was a definite hangover from sat’day. Maybes I should’ve changed it and freshened it up a bit but I wanted to give the lads another go. We’ve had a wake up call battt we’ll be ready to go again at the weekend.’
You forgot "we're still there or thereabouts and that's all you can ask for at this stage"
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Gutted. But there will be more twists and turns before the end of the season.
Thing is even if Cardiff lose the next 3 and we win the next 3 (which won’t happen) we will more than likely be back in 3rd if we dropped points in the fourth game. We got in to second a couple of weeks back and just crumbled at the first attempt. Cardiff are just too strong mentally.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
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Was it the same starting line up as Sat ?
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Yep.
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As pissed off as you all are. As pissed off as I am. I can't imagine anyone is more pissed off right now than Birkir Bjarnason.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
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We've blinked. Cardiff keep that mental steally stare. They wont implode as coming from behind to beat Brentford is a great result. Despite this, we'll still go up but it'll be a nerve wracking experience via the play offs.
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This was some very shit football. Same old Villa inconsistency which seems to stick to us like a hex.
Still, Bruce does have a habit of hitting streaks just when he needs to, which would be useful in the play-offs.
That would be fine if the other teams around us weren’t finding form and hitting streaks too. Fulham despite their incredible form are a point back of us. They will be very tough indeed.
Yes but, hopefully, ask their streaks will have run out of steam by then. Our own is running out just in time to give us a few weeks before starting the next one.
Am I doing optimism right, never tried it before.
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It's the hope that kills us all. I for one still think Cardiff will loose some games. We just have to get back to winning ways against Bolton.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
Well what do ya know.....
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Very disappointing and very much 'Villa' but loads of football still to be played.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
For the love of God, stop
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Villa all over you can guarantee after a great result like Saturday they’d do something like this. Looks like it will be the playoffs, knowing us we'll just bottle it.
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No way on gods earth will we finish 2nd. I’m now predicting we’ll finish 4th.
Unbelievably flat tonight, and if we are unable to play 2 massive games back to back, how the fuck are we going to manage Cardiff followed by Leeds 3 days later?
Playoffs......fuck!!!!
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If Cardiff and/or Fulham can have one of these catastrophic off days, that would help. It happened to Wolves (they were beaten rather than ambushed, but the point remains) and surely it's got to happen to them. Maybe the international break, which when you're winning you hate, will help us and screw them. It might kill momentum while allowing us to regroup and heal.
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As pissed off as you all are. As pissed off as I am. I can't imagine anyone is more pissed off right now than Birkir Bjarnason.
Don't understand what he has done to not be in the starting line up.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
I think you should take the rest of the night off. This isn't the time for one of your lectures.
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I’m going to keep hanging on to Mr Saunders’ words with four games to go. It’s all I have.
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If Cardiff and/or Fulham can have one of these catastrophic off days, that would help. It happened to Wolves (they were beaten rather than ambushed, but the point remains) and surely it's got to happen to them. Maybe the international break, which when you're winning you hate, will help us and screw them. It might kill momentum while allowing us to regroup and heal.
Yep, I like that angle. Positive and possible, which is what we need to dampen the despair. Thanks CO, I'll go with that.
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7 points from top 2, 10 points from 7th
think the results tonight will give Wolves the momentum to get over the line anyway
still think Cardiff will have a sticky spell but running out of time for it...
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Has to be as bad a home performance as we've had since relegation. I don't see the point starting Jedi at home to QPR. I certainly don't see the point starting him for the second half when 2-0 down. Bruce dropped the ball there twice imo. We were just flat, looked like strangers and failed at so many basic passes, corners etc. No one was my motm as no one deserved to be.
As for the crowd, plenty of singing in L2 considering how wank we were.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
Give it a rest for a change or post elsewhere.
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On the subject of the singing, I wasn't at the game tonight but I watched it at home and I want to confirm that I sang fucking loudly. I even got my guitar out at one point.
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How frustrating was that? We didn't get started, we didn't get into the game at all and credit to QPR, they didn't let us. One to take on the chin and try and put behind us. Let's hope we bounce back on Saturday.
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Has to be as bad a home performance as we've had since relegation. I don't see the point starting Jedi at home to QPR. I certainly don't see the point starting him for the second half when 2-0 down. Bruce dropped the ball there twice imo. We were just flat, looked like strangers and failed at so many basic passes, corners etc. No one was my motm as no one deserved to be.
As for the crowd, plenty of singing in L2 considering how wank we were.
He played him because of the giant of a centre forward QPR had - to mop up in front of him. Didn’t make much difference. He won everything all night and we never coped with their direct approach. They looked dangerous every time the ball went into our box.
It was a bad one but we do struggle at home when we concede the first goal.
Having said that Grealish missed a great chance on half time that would have livened up the second half.
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Realistically though Terry should be able to deal with him. And you play Jedi to ensure you don't go 2-0 down. When that fails I don't see the point in keeping him on as he's going to do little to get you back into the game.
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Just got back in from work. What a shit result that is. No way will we get automatic promotion. Too many results like this after good runs of form.
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First loss in 4 months at home and generally you will have some off days ..the problem is Cardiff and lately Fulham have been relentless . There is still hope for an auto spot but it's fading fast and the play offs are a lottery ..first things first we need to get back to winning ways on Saturday
I see Bruce has already come out and said he should of changed things around to freshen things up so I would expect some changes for Saturday
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that people have other things to do: for example, work, other commitments etc etc. Or don't have the money for two home games in three days. Or just can't be bothered with a Tuesday night game at home to QPR. I think in general, people like weekend home matches, and I don't think our home support is 'wank'. 30,000 would say otherwise.
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No energy or drive all night. QPR had energy and desire and were winning first balls and second balls. I hoped we’d have a real go second half, but we didn’t. Why didn’t he change our leaden midfielders Hourihane and Jedinak at half time?
I don’t understand why our back line continued to play so deep when we were two down or why Grealish spent so much time playing so deep also.
I can’t think of anybody who played remotely well for us. Expected a bit of a struggle but not that!
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Where’s Lastfootstamper tonight? He’s very quiet.
He gave me a very hard time when I suggested that tonight might be tricky. Be nice of him to admit he was wrong!
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Bruce post match...
https://mobile.twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/973687745725034500/video/1
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Disastrous night compounded by the other results. We were second to pretty much every ball and just looked so slow. We looked shaky at the back from the very start ANC offered very little going forward. They fully deserved the win and thought the number 30 in midfield was excellent.
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Cracking win for Cardiff, can't see us catching them now, why did he wait until the 81st minute before bringing on Birkir?
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Bruce looked very deflated. You'd think a manager if his experience would know how to deal with 2 matches in 4 days with a full strength squad. I suppose that's why he's never got a team promoted automatically.
Five words for the run in: attack, attack, attack, attack, attack
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The lot of them couldn't cope with QPR's determination. Complacent, fancy dan performance which gave us exactly what we deserved.
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QPR's away record before tonight: W2 D5 L10....Yes, TEN! Totally crazy result against a bang average team. Hurry up back Kodjia!
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The last 2 games have given us 3 points, which is better than 2 draws.
If we're honest the Wolves result was more of a surprise than this result.
Cardiff have been on a great run that will end soon, but we are running out of games.
Hopefully we put another run of results together.
This league really is a lottery.
Last seasons play offs - Sheff Wed, Fulham, Huddersfield, Reading. Edit Sheff Wed not Derby
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Can’t recall seeing a game where so many of the team had a stinker. Genuinely struggling to think of a single player to come out of that game with any credit ... too many heads went down, and too many went into hiding. Had Jack put that header in on the stroke of half time I’m convinced we’d have seen a different second half. As it was, we made it way too easy for them, but credit where it’s due, they played us like a fiddle tonight.
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Well that was shocking. Don't know why Bruce persisted with Jedinak after he'd brought Bjarnason on against Wolves and he provided energy and a goal, but to be fair not a single Villa player came out of tonight's debacle with any credit. And just to rub it in the M5 was closed on the way back. And it all felt so good just 3 days ago....
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It’s a bad result tonight. But what normally happens after a defeat for under SB is we storm onwards.
Just trying to put a positive slant on tonight.
If you know me, that’s rare.
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QPR's away record before tonight: W2 D5 L10....Yes, TEN! Totally crazy result against a bang average team. Hurry up back Kodjia!
Yes, if there's any hope, get him ready for the play offs. Unfortunately at the moment, Davis and Hogan aren't going to be the answer up front if needed.
That must've been by far the best QPR have played all season, but I still can't fathom how poorly everyone played across the board. Any complacency should've been gone as soon as we went behind, and the players knew how important it was to build on Saturday.
Cardiff have had their bad spell when they lost 4 in a row around Christmas time, so to expect them to have another run like that is unlikely, and even if they do, there's Fulham. I suspect they will handle QPR rather more proficiently on Saturday.
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Flat from the start. Flat atmosphere too, could have heard a pin drop at times.
It had a feel of "one of those nights" right from the start.
Play offs for us. I'm so pissed off right now.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
Give it a rest
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QPR have now beaten us, Cardiff and Wolves. Don't know what i'm getting at with this one thought to be honest.
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If we can beat Bolton, and hope Derby beat Cardiff then it's back to 4 points - then the big one against them in April. It's not over yet!
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Holloway is a master of this. He knows his team can’t compete for promotion but for the odd match he gets them playing. That said we should have buried these tonight. Onwards. UTV
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QPR have now beaten us, Cardiff and Wolves. Don't know what i'm getting at with this one thought to be honest.
...and all three have beaten QPR as well. ;)
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Has to be as bad a home performance as we've had since relegation. I don't see the point starting Jedi at home to QPR. I certainly don't see the point starting him for the second half when 2-0 down. Bruce dropped the ball there twice imo. We were just flat, looked like strangers and failed at so many basic passes, corners etc.
14 corners tonight. It's the story of our season, fucking clueless with the basics.
So bloody annoying, you finally start to believe and reality kicks you in the balls.
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If we can beat Bolton, and hope Derby beat Cardiff then it's back to 4 points - then the big one against them in April. It's not over yet!
This has cheered me up. Let’s go for it
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If we can beat Bolton, and hope Derby beat Cardiff then it's back to 4 points - then the big one against them in April. It's not over yet!
That’s the spirit!
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QPR deserved their win and it could have been more. They were dominant going forward and it could have been more than 2 at HT
First half crosses from Elmo were good but no numbers going forward to make it count. Albert couldn’t beat the first man with his crosses
Should have changed it at half time rather than wait. Great Grealish chance missed before HT which could have turned the game.
Second half we just seemed to pass and pass without progressing. If you bring on Davis you have to mix it up and get some early crosses in. We didn’t.
Finally, the service at HT in the Holte for a beer was a shocker. Please sort it out. Some organisation would be nice
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I have been expecting Cardiff to have a poor run since September but apart from a blip over xmas they have just carried on winning so with 9 games to go expecting them to just fall apart seems a little unlikely .Warnock is a decent manager at this level and knows how to get promoted .
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I agreed with everything Bruce said in his post match interview, we looked lead footed and short of energy and spark. The Villa fans I spoke to beforehand all had an ‘after the Lord Mayors show’ fatalism about this game it proved well founded. I fancied 2-2 at th start and still did at half time.
I think he should have made changes earlier but lets hope this a blip, very few players will feel they did themselves justice.
All to play for and a lot to prove in the next games.
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Well 4 days is a long time in football. We have moved from aiming for top spot to at best a play-off team. Sad state of affairs but too many indifferent performances over the season are taking their toll.
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I have been expecting Cardiff to have a poor run since September but apart from a blip over xmas they have just carried on winning so with 9 games to go expecting them to just fall apart seems a little unlikely .Warnock is a decent manager at this level and knows how to get promoted .
Unfortunately I agree completely.
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If we can beat Bolton, and hope Derby beat Cardiff then it's back to 4 points - then the big one against them in April. It's not over yet!
Yes but a few too many if's in there. It's over and just accept it.
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Bolton are going to get a serious mauling.
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Bolton are going to get a serious mauling.
Yep, i'd expect Wolves to stick at least 5 past them next month.
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Bolton are going to get a serious mauling.
And so were QPR apparently.
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Just in case we don’t do auto promotion (I think we will because the others have to have a 4/5 bad game run ) what date is the Wembley play off final?
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Quote from Blackadder sums it up really.
Captain Darling: I put a note in my diary today. Simply says, " Bugger."
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Just in case we don’t do auto promotion (I think we will because the others have to have a 4/5 bad game run ) what date is the Wembley play off final?
This season or next?
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Bolton are going to get a serious mauling.
And so were QPR apparently.
Not by me. As I said Holloway has done this throughout his career. As a Brummie in Bristol, I’ve seen his Rovers team rise up and beat Everton and Sunderland in the LC.
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Maybes I should’ve changed it and freshened it up a bit but I wanted to give the lads another go.
Yes Bruce you should have and moving Jedinak to left back what was that all about?
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Reminded me of 1990. Beat Spurs two nil to go top and then lost at home to Wimbledon 3 nil the following Saturday
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Maybes I should’ve changed it and freshened it up a bit but I wanted to give the lads another go.
Yes Bruce you should have and moving Jedinak to left back what was that all about?
Nobody can find Chris Samba.
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All credit to QPR by the way, for a team with fuck all to play for they played with an intensity and aggression that put us to shame. The left back was particularly impressive.
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Maybes I should’ve changed it and freshened it up a bit but I wanted to give the lads another go.
Yes Bruce you should have and moving Jedinak to left back what was that all about?
Hourihane should have gone to LB. Not sure what he offers at the moment. If he isn’t scoring he offers little.
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As pissed off as you all are. As pissed off as I am. I can't imagine anyone is more pissed off right now than Birkir Bjarnason.
Don't understand what he has done to not be in the starting line up.
Jedi came in and was superb v Blues and Wolves. But was shocking tonight, not unexpected as he isn't up to 2 games in 4 days. Ideal game for BBs mobility, QPR were never going to physically dominate our midfield but instead ran rings around our two.
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Just in case we don’t do auto promotion (I think we will because the others have to have a 4/5 bad game run ) what date is the Wembley play off final?
Saturday 26 May apparently.
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All credit to QPR by the way, for a team with fuck all to play for they played with an intensity and aggression that put us to shame. The left back was particularly impressive.
That’s what Holloway does.
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Just in case we don’t do auto promotion (I think we will because the others have to have a 4/5 bad game run ) what date is the Wembley play off final?
Saturday 26 May apparently.
Saturday..... c 50,000, At least it would be a great day out.
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Before this match I was saying Bruce needs to change things up, freshen it up. By bringing in some other squad players, who are capable, give hungry performance and not the same side vs wolves epic victory. And so match v Bolton no need to play same team.
As Bruce did and found down by 2 goals a sub or 2 was needed at h-t.
The subs made needed to be more ruthless I got impression Bruce didn't want to upset any of Snodgrass, Grealish or Adomoah and instead upset balance of team by keeping all on.
Maybe starting with two up top would have been best.
Also failing to see how Jedinak played this one whole 90 minutes.
I was unimpressed with Hourihane and feeling Lansbury and Bjarnason need to be in.
Bruce biggest issue is his lack of rotation and also not being ruthless in changing personnel.
Needs to trust his whole squad a lot more in times like this.
Didn't set it up right and was hoping the team would just carry on like they did against Wolves.
What was needed was a team for this particular match and particular players.
Failed to see how 3 centre backs and wing backs did anything and was a shoe horn to keep players out there.
I think both fans and players had some difficulty being up for the match.
In play off and big matches the crowd are showing up as are the players.
Would have been great to hear more noise but it's how it is.
Onto Bolton away and lesson learnt
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footyskillz totally agree with your post particularly the ineffective substitution of removing a fullback and moving a midfielder to fullback.
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It's a tactic many managers do, MON did it every game in seasons when we were finishing sixth.
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Our friend was uncharacteristicly right in that the crowd was as flat as the players, we don’t have a divine right to beat anyone.
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So disappointing but not unexpected for me. Such a shame after the fireworks of a few days ago
Missed the game. Add that to my absence from the Reading defeat earlier this season and I'd better make sure I turn up for the rest of the home games I suppose.
Hindsight is a thing of beauty and we'll all use it but it's been a great run and we need to get back in the saddle on Saturday.
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It's now just a question of Wolves or Cardiff as champions or runners-up. Shit though last night was, it was no worse than the defeat against Sheffield Wednesday, the draws have done for us in terms of automatic promotion. There's little point having a squad if you don't use it, so I can only assume Bruce hasn't any real faith in the squad players who seldom, if ever, play. The biggest disappointment for me last night was Johnstone - his limitations as a goalkeeper were once again laid bare. So tactically does it matter now where we finish in the play-offs given we are invariably craven at the cottage?
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It's a tactic many managers do, MON did it every game in seasons when we were finishing sixth.
MON did it as an offensive ploy Barry Milner Young that could offer something positive, but Jedi?
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I just think we'd all (players and fans alike) thought we just had to turn up after Saturday and win our remaining games, whilst our rivals would blow up and fall off their respective wagons. Maybe it will be a good lesson to us in the long run. Brucey, use your squad!!
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Bruce's reluctance to have any kind of confidence in his full squad has cost us dear all season. IF we go up and it is a big if, we need a better goalkeeper.
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We were crap all over the pitch and didn't win a second ball all game. Were they tired? Maybe. They looked complacent to me though. Like they presumed they would just roll QPR over without putting the effort in to squeeze the ball. The young kid they had up front was a handful.
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Bolton are going to get a serious mauling.
But what would be the point if we just then throw the following match away?
Anyway, having time to sleep on it I still haven t got over it. How the fuck could they let this happen? To QP fucking R?
Bolton might get it in the neck now, but that won't undo last night's fuckup.
Soooo disappointed.
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There are still 9 games, and I'd like to say that this could be a wake up call.... but how many of those do we need?
And I didnt think that we wouldnt lose a game.... but QPR? :o
As long as we dont freefall out of the play offs.
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If we can beat Bolton, and hope Derby beat Cardiff then it's back to 4 points - then the big one against them in April. It's not over yet!
That’s the spirit!
And that's the beauty of the championship football.
Brucey said numerous times there are plenty of twists and turns, it's unpredictable.
These teams with nothing to play for on their day can play with freedom and put in a performance.
I actually feel some teams and players who don't have anything to play for use the competition e on element and that the opposition need to win drives them to compete to beat them (if that makes sense)
Qpr can do favor again on Saturday lunchtime v Fulham please!
Lets see how Bruce plays it v Bolton and hope are rivals fall.
Like to think Cardiff and Fulham will have a less than predictable result or two like this villa one before season is out.
Bruce seems to suggest this occurs in this league so let's hope he is right on that count.
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I bet Fulham beat QPR on Saturday. Fulham will also have had a full week off. QPR's away record is woeful this season, which makes last night's result even more disappointing.
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Fair enough if he was thinking about freshening it up since Saturday night then playing the same team , thats up to him , his decision , he is the manager , but soon as you are 2 -0 down then change it straight away , do not leave it. houriane has been pretty average for a while now .
Awful result and performance.
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There are still 9 games, and I'd like to say that this could be a wake up call.... but how many of those do we need?
And I didnt think that we wouldnt lose a game.... but QPR? :o
As long as we dont freefall out of the play offs.
Yes just about summed up right. We have had several of these wake up calls throughout the season.
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I bet Fulham beat QPR on Saturday. Fulham will also have had a full week off. QPR's away record is woeful this season, which makes last night's result even more disappointing.
QPR are probably more likely to get a result now at least, but first goal is often always key.
I thought we look tired. Adomah and Snoddy's delivery was off, Jack was over hitting passes and Grabban was none existent.
Thor and Angela for Hourihane and Jedinak may have made a difference with Scotty up top. Just fresher legs to press and run as we did next to nothing off the ball.
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and when was the last time we coceeded three at home? I think it was Reading last season but too pissed off to do the research
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Lowlights (http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/11288909/aston-villa-1-3-qpr)
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I missed the second half the stream wasn't that good after the Wolves game I'm disappointed but we need to beat Bolton on Saturday.
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I didn't see that coming
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The standard of delivery into the box was awful. Albert barely beat the first man with a cross all night.
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Bruce's reluctance to have any kind of confidence in his full squad has cost us dear all season. IF we go up and it is a big if, we need a better goalkeeper.
Brian totally agree that we need a more competent, agile and domineering keeper and one who can kick a ball properly however I think it's not about Bruce having more confidence in his squad it's more about being more confident in himself and doing something extra-ordinary. I don't think he is capable of that. He is football manger version of painting by numbers and not an artist.
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Bruce's reluctance to have any kind of confidence in his full squad has cost us dear all season. IF we go up and it is a big if, we need a better goalkeeper.
Brian totally agree that we need a more competent, agile and domineering keeper and one who can kick a ball properly however I think it's not about Bruce having more confidence in his squad it's more about being more confident in himself and doing something extra-ordinary. I don't think he is capable of that. He is football manger version of painting by numbers and not an artist.
I'm glad other people are seeing the weaknesses in Johnstone now, a few weeks back i felt like I was swimming against the tide saying that I don't think we should be desperate to keep him if we go up. I've not seen all of the game (I was out for most of the first half) but for what I caught we looked really nervy at the back, given our record in 2018 how can that happen?
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Whilst not giving up on the top two, I think we now need to prioritise stabilising ourselves and ensuring this doesn't have a lasting effect and a) ensure we get into the play offs and b)gear ourselves up to being ready for them.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that people have other things to do: for example, work, other commitments etc etc. Or don't have the money for two home games in three days. Or just can't be bothered with a Tuesday night game at home to QPR. I think in general, people like weekend home matches, and I don't think our home support is 'wank'. 30,000 would say otherwise.
Or like myself and countless others Champion Hurdle day at Cheltenham. I was totally pissed off when this game got rearranged for a Tuesday night. We have ALWAYS played our home night games on Wednesdays. Small Heath on Tuesdays. Does anyone know why this has changed?
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Whilst not giving up on the top two, I think we now need to prioritise stabilising ourselves and ensuring this doesn't have a lasting effect and a) ensure we get into the play offs and b)gear ourselves up to being ready for them.
Yes, good point. And start practising penalties. There's no reason why every player can't stay behind for half an hour each training session and practice 10-20 penalties so they start becoming second nature.
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Very flat. No effort off the ball and on balance changes ought to have been made.
Listless and tired. You could tell with the poor delivery, the time we afforded them and our absence of intensity.
Time to use the squad. Still loads of time left.
QuintonVilla will be right if he criticises the crowd tonight. As shocking as the players with the Sunderland impression.
The crowd were shite from the off. Just beat Wolves 4-1 and the ground was dead apart from Holte Enders In The Sky on loop from about 500 people in the Holte. Everyone else sat on their hands waiting to be entertained like they support Man City. We lost thousands of fans again in the space of 3 days. Our home support is wank for a club of our size and on the run we were on.
It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that people have other things to do: for example, work, other commitments etc etc. Or don't have the money for two home games in three days. Or just can't be bothered with a Tuesday night game at home to QPR. I think in general, people like weekend home matches, and I don't think our home support is 'wank'. 30,000 would say otherwise.
Or like myself and countless others Champion Hurdle day at Cheltenham. I was totally pissed off when this game got rearranged for a Tuesday night. We have ALWAYS played our home night games on Wednesdays. Small Heath on Tuesdays. Does anyone know why this has changed?
Alex McLeish wanted it.
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As disappointing as it was we have to remember we've won 10 of the last 13 and scored 29 goals. Talk of fading away and having no chance is ridiculous. We are more than capable and more likely to go on another run for the remaining 9 games. It's a kick in the pants, a terrible performance and result but let's not over exaggerate it and make a crisis out of it. We'll take a few days off and as Lambert would say, go again. We have the players, we have the form and confidence and like it or not the manager has proven he can get us there or there abouts. Let's all stick together and have the belief that we can do this because our form over the past 30 games suggest we can. Doom and gloom can fuck off for the next 2 months, we've all got to produce and that includes the fans. When we are all together as Wolves found out then we can demolish anyone in this division.
Bolton will feel our lashback, 3-1 Villa.
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Bruce's reluctance to have any kind of confidence in his full squad has cost us dear all season. IF we go up and it is a big if, we need a better goalkeeper.
Brian totally agree that we need a more competent, agile and domineering keeper and one who can kick a ball properly however I think it's not about Bruce having more confidence in his squad it's more about being more confident in himself and doing something extra-ordinary. I don't think he is capable of that. He is football manger version of painting by numbers and not an artist.
I'm glad other people are seeing the weaknesses in Johnstone now, a few weeks back i felt like I was swimming against the tide saying that I don't think we should be desperate to keep him if we go up. I've not seen all of the game (I was out for most of the first half) but for what I caught we looked really nervy at the back, given our record in 2018 how can that happen?
Did anyone see Cardiff's corners last night in the Brentford game? They seemed to have half their team in the 6 yard area. Not looking forward to seeing that with Johnson I fear they could have some joy and pick up a cheap goal or two.
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As disappointing as it was we have to remember we've won 10 of the last 13 and scored 29 goals. Talk of fading away and having no chance is ridiculous. We are more than capable and more likely to go on another run for the remaining 9 games. It's a kick in the pants, a terrible performance and result but let's not over exaggerate it and make a crisis out of it. We'll take a few days off and as Lambert would say, go again. We have the players, we have the form and confidence and like it or not the manager has proven he can get us there or there abouts. Let's all stick together and have the belief that we can do this because our form over the past 30 games suggest we can. Doom and gloom can fuck off for the next 2 months, we've all got to produce and that includes the fans. When we are all together as Wolves found out then we can demolish anyone in this division.
Bolton will feel our lashback, 3-1 Villa.
Great post.
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we've all got to produce and that includes the fans. When we are all together as Wolves found out then we can demolish anyone in this division.
Unless the manager fucks up the team selection and formation.
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Bolton are going to get a serious mauling.
But what would be the point if we just then throw the following match away?
Anyway, having time to sleep on it I still haven t got over it. How the fuck could they let this happen? To QP fucking R?
Bolton might get it in the neck now, but that won't undo last night's fuckup.
Soooo disappointed.
My thoughts exactly - I think we should learn from that big time. We need to be able to get over ourselves. Happy to see Bolton get well turned over but if we're going to be jaded then I'd prefer to go 2-0 up and park the bus. Others WILL drop points so we just need to keep going. I am resigned to the playoffs however.
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I've woke up calm as can be today. I refused to get carried away after Saturday nights match and i refuse to carried away after this loss.
In fact, you could sense something wasn't right from the moment we got to Villa Park last night. The last caller on WM pre match that i heard was a Villa fan giving it the big un claiming we'd batter em, and i sensed a lot of complacency from other supporters beforehand as well. Have these people not supported us for long or what?
You don't EVER take anything for granted with Aston Villa FC. EVER.
Bruce and the team (not one or the other) have to take full blame for the performance, and we fans have to take the blame for the morgue like atmosphere. I know the happy clapper daytrippers that came out for Blues and the Dogheads were nowhere to be seen but did we do our part? Nah.
I felt we'd spent the last few days since Saturday not looking at QPR or wondering how to play against them to best effect at all. It was like we just turned up thinking lets go again. Well, in my humble you really should be ask questions of the opposition before any game and have a plan to counter their threats. We aren't a good enough side to just turn up and play 'our way' against whoever we're playing on any given day. Just my opinion anyway.
I wasn't criticising the team selection before KO so i'm sure as hell not going to post match either.
It was just a HUGE collective off day. I can't think of a single positive to take from the match. Everyone was way below par so it's best just filed away as forgotten as there's zero to be gained from wallowing in the post match misery.
Onwards to Saturday.
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It's a tactic many managers do, MON did it every game in seasons when we were finishing sixth.
MON did it as an offensive ploy Barry Milner Young that could offer something positive, but Jedi?
I'm struggling to think of a time in MONs era when those changes worked either. Moving Milner out of midfield to right back in Carling cup final was one that stands out
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I really hope our players don't base their attitudes around the presumption that other teams around us are bound to lose points.
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Not sure it's all over just yet. We've got to play Cardiff at our place, and Wolves have to go to them too, almost certainly needing a win there to guarantee the title (if they don't, it'll have meant that Cardiff will have dropped points in the meantime so that's good for us as well). That's a potential six point swing that is not only possible but (if we can replicate the Wolves atmosphere and performance) definitely plausible. We're running out of games and margin for error, but it can still happen.
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Not sure it's all over just yet. We've got to play Cardiff at our place, and Wolves have to go to them too, almost certainly needing a win there to guarantee the title (if they don't, it'll have meant that Cardiff will have dropped points in the meantime so that's good for us as well). That's a potential six point swing that is not only possible but (if we can replicate the Wolves atmosphere and performance) definitely plausible. We're running out of games and margin for error, but it can still happen.
That is true but we have our selves no margin for error , cardiff can afford to draw both those games.With just 9 games to go it going to take us being spectacular and Cardiff someone falling apart drastically and I just can't see it
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Seven points to make up in nine games, is to much I think. Yes Cardiff have got to come to us, and we may win, but that still leaves 4 points. Its the playoffs for me :(
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Bruce's reluctance to have any kind of confidence in his full squad has cost us dear all season. IF we go up and it is a big if, we need a better goalkeeper.
Brian totally agree that we need a more competent, agile and domineering keeper and one who can kick a ball properly however I think it's not about Bruce having more confidence in his squad it's more about being more confident in himself and doing something extra-ordinary. I don't think he is capable of that. He is football manger version of painting by numbers and not an artist.
I'm glad other people are seeing the weaknesses in Johnstone now, a few weeks back i felt like I was swimming against the tide saying that I don't think we should be desperate to keep him if we go up. I've not seen all of the game (I was out for most of the first half) but for what I caught we looked really nervy at the back, given our record in 2018 how can that happen?
I agree on Johnstone's poor performance last night, and to be fair I don't think the general support round here for signing him is at the same time totally disregarding the weaknesses in his game which last night were laid bare.
I just think that signing him permanently (even perhaps as well as an experienced GK to learn from) makes sense because despite those problems, he's clearly got a lot of talent, is very young for a keeper, and for relatively cheaply we could secure a long-term excellent number 1 if he develops and learns from the errors. It's not the same level obviously, but look at the De Gea United signed 5-6 years ago compared to the De Gea they have now. He's definitely got room to develop.
But last night was poor, no mistake - his distribution while good at times can be woeful at others and right now is simply too inconsistent. Although I don't think last night it was helped by the unwillingness of a lot of the players to show early for the ball. He often had the ball in hand, ready to start an attack quickly, and simply had no option.. Not necessarily his fault
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Bruce's reluctance to have any kind of confidence in his full squad has cost us dear all season. IF we go up and it is a big if, we need a better goalkeeper.
Brian totally agree that we need a more competent, agile and domineering keeper and one who can kick a ball properly however I think it's not about Bruce having more confidence in his squad it's more about being more confident in himself and doing something extra-ordinary. I don't think he is capable of that. He is football manger version of painting by numbers and not an artist.
I'm glad other people are seeing the weaknesses in Johnstone now, a few weeks back i felt like I was swimming against the tide saying that I don't think we should be desperate to keep him if we go up. I've not seen all of the game (I was out for most of the first half) but for what I caught we looked really nervy at the back, given our record in 2018 how can that happen?
Little or no protection from midfield hardly helped matters. We couldn't cope with QPRs movement all night, Terry for the first, Grealish failed to track the scorer of the third. We aren't exactly the most mobile side, QPR ruthlessly exposed that.
Harsh enough to blame Johnstone for last night, first maybe a bit central. No chance with other two. He has got pinned to his line a few times this season from set pieces, that's the main flaw I've seen.
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I think overall Johnstone has had a good solid season. He's kept us in games which I think some people tend to forget. He's still quite young for a keeper so his flaws may be a bit more noticeable. I think he's got the potential to go on and be a very good keeper.
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Not that fussed either way whether we keep Johnstone or not. He is largely a decent keeper but goalkeeper is not an area where it is that difficult to pick up an adequate player.
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I got carried away on Saturday and I bet loads of others did too. I thought we'd score within 10 minutes (based on previous games) and see the game out.
It was 50/50 that Bruce would shake up the team after Saturdays excursions. He chose to stick but after the 1st goal went in and they were bypassing our midfield at will, why didn't he make the positive changes then? We have the squad!!
Crushing disappointment that autos is now "probably" gone and we have the lotto of the play offs.
I am not looking forward to Saturdays match now (but will still watch it) knowing we will have 2 weeks to stew should we knacker this one up aswell. Urggghhh feel terrible.
Thanks boys.
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didn't Hull have a crap run in March a couple of seasons ago before eventually scraping into the play offs. Seem to remember them losing at Blues when they could have gone 2nd.
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Team selection wrong - how can you play a 33 year old and a 38 year old twice in 72 hours? And it showed with Terry painfully slow to get anywhere near to the first and Jedinak running in concrete to close down the shot for the 2nd.
Tactics all wrong - Jedninak I assume was in there due to the threat by the brick shithouse that is Matt Smith. What really happened is that Jedinak went further and further backwards and was directly in front of Terry to double up meaning there was a gaping hole in the centre of the park which they quite rightly exposed at will. And for him then to go to LB was almost comical.
Subs all wrong - wrong players at the wrong times
Goalkeeper - have said it for a while now will cost us more than he saves us. Positioning piss poor for 1st and 3rd goals and his kicking is abysmal.
I have had to (quite rightly) eat a shit load of humble pie with Bruce over recent weeks but last night was an epitome of all his worst tactical traits.
But its not just him I am so disappointed in the players - they could easily be tired after the game on Saturday but how the hell do an entire team collectively forget the basics - crossing / passing / moving / 2nd &3rd balls was just completely lacking - unforgivable
To end on a positive (If there is on) we all assumed QPR would be easy but earlier in the season they turned over both Wolves and Sheff utd in a week when both were 1st and 2nd in the league. It goes to show take your eye off the ball and any team can beat you (apart from the Blues of course)
It is not over and I am sure there will be further shocks along the way but f*ck me we do make life difficult for ourselves at times
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Team selection wrong - how can you play a 33 year old and a 38 year old twice in 72 hours? And it showed with Terry painfully slow to get anywhere near to the first and Jedinak running in concrete to close down the shot for the 2nd.
Who would you have played instead of Terry out of interest ?
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Jedi could possibly have done a job with Thor taking his place
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Jedi could possibly have done a job with Thor taking his place
Not ideal, plus he already said playing him twice in so few days was a bad idea
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Team selection wrong - how can you play a 33 year old and a 38 year old twice in 72 hours? And it showed with Terry painfully slow to get anywhere near to the first and Jedinak running in concrete to close down the shot for the 2nd.
Who would you have played instead of Terry out of interest ?
Bree?
Suliman?
Not sure where the hell Samba is
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Success in top level sports depends on small margins, often it's down to who makes the fewest errors. It's been one of my concerns with Bruce and Bruce's Villa that they too often shoot themselves in the foot and take the wind out of their own sales. It might be fragile confidence, over confidence, whatever, but some of Bruce's decisions have been plain daft. Which is why we're often two steps forward, one step back. It's not over yet because if we can beat Cardiff at home the gap is only 4 points. That is bridgeable over 8 other games if we can avoid throwing more points away unnecessarily. Big if. Would have been much more doable if beating Cardiff meant a 1 point gap to make up - but then we rarely do things the easy way do we?
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I've woke up calm as can be today. I refused to get carried away after Saturday nights match and i refuse to carried away after this loss.
In fact, you could sense something wasn't right from the moment we got to Villa Park last night. The last caller on WM pre match that i heard was a Villa fan giving it the big un claiming we'd batter em, and i sensed a lot of complacency from other supporters beforehand as well. Have these people not supported us for long or what?
You don't EVER take anything for granted with Aston Villa FC. EVER.
Bruce and the team (not one or the other) have to take full blame for the performance, and we fans have to take the blame for the morgue like atmosphere. I know the happy clapper daytrippers that came out for Blues and the Dogheads were nowhere to be seen but did we do our part? Nah.
I felt we'd spent the last few days since Saturday not looking at QPR or wondering how to play against them to best effect at all. It was like we just turned up thinking lets go again. Well, in my humble you really should be ask questions of the opposition before any game and have a plan to counter their threats. We aren't a good enough side to just turn up and play 'our way' against whoever we're playing on any given day. Just my opinion anyway.
I wasn't criticising the team selection before KO so i'm sure as hell not going to post match either.
It was just a HUGE collective off day. I can't think of a single positive to take from the match. Everyone was way below par so it's best just filed away as forgotten as there's zero to be gained from wallowing in the post match misery.
Onwards to Saturday.
The passage which I have emboldened is right on the money in my view. Just as we payed no attention to the Ginger Pirlo of Brentford for several games, so last night we let Ebere Eze (who?) run the show. The new Stanley Bowles according to some Hoops fans on the train.
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Ebere Eze did look very good. Walking up to VP I said a dull 1-0, my son said no Dad 3-1, well he was kinda right !
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Reminded me of 1990. Beat Spurs two nil to go top and then lost at home to Wimbledon 3 nil the following Saturday
I said the exact thing to the guyvwho sits next to me in the Holte.
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Reminded me of 1990. Beat Spurs two nil to go top and then lost at home to Wimbledon 3 nil the following Saturday
I said the exact thing to the guyvwho sits next to me in the Holte.
I said it on the match thread. I'll never forget that Wimbledon game, and Tuesday felt exactly the same - all that hope turning to bewildered horror as everything went wrong and you realised it was going to be one of those days.
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Reminded me of 1990. Beat Spurs two nil to go top and then lost at home to Wimbledon 3 nil the following Saturday
I said the exact thing to the guyvwho sits next to me in the Holte.
I said it on the match thread. I'll never forget that Wimbledon game, and Tuesday felt exactly the same - all that hope turning to bewildered horror as everything went wrong and you realised it was going to be one of those days.
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Ebere Eze did look very good.
His friends call him 'Eze and he is the main geezer
And he'll vibe up the place like no other man could
He's refined, sublime, he makes you feel fine
Though very much maligned and misunderstood
But if you know 'Eze he's a real crowd pleaser
He's ever so good, he's Ebere-Eze Goode